Computers and School: Indian and French students' discourse

The use of digital technologies by young people and the impact of e-learning have been the subject of a significant number of studies carried out worldwide. However, when it comes to student perceptions about the place and role of these technologies in their lives, research looks towards university students. This article aims to understand what the technologies represent for school students in their personal and school lives. It is based on a study that brings together two contexts, representing opposing cultures and trends: France where the policy on school computers has been in place for more than two decades and India where the government has only recently begun to make efforts to overcome the digital divide. This study conducted in the two countries in 2009 among 960 young people aged between 11 and 18 shows the importance of schools in constructing private spaces to be shared with peers, a role that has long been attributed to home computers. This article thus provides elements of explanation for the relative disenchantment that young people feel for the school-related uses of the technologies. For them, school is not about individualist autonomous learning, but about learning from teachers as a group. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.